


Deligati Sanguis

by Flyingflapjack



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Evil Snoke, F/M, Medical Procedures, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Death, Polyamory, Reverse Harem, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey Struggles with Anxiety, Rey's Milkshake Brought All The Boys to the Yard, Romantic Fluff, Scars, She takes no shit, Sixsome - F/M/M/M/M/M, Smut, Snoke Being a Dick, So much smut, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Strong Rey (Star Wars), Tags Contain Spoilers, Vampire Bites, Vampire Sex, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23833447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyingflapjack/pseuds/Flyingflapjack
Summary: In a world where monsters reign supreme, Rey Palpatine is the adopted human granddaughter of Sheev Palpatine—an elder vampire and the CEO of PalpLabs, one of the largest soulmate-matching companies in the world.Rey has no choice but to go along with whatever her grandfather wants, but when she catches wind that he's developing a serum that would change the fabric of soulmate society as they know it, even she knows that he has finally gone too far.Desperate to stop him, she turns to an unlikely ally—rival company Organa Solo Industries, run by five vampire brothers that Rey believes hold the key to foiling her grandfather's plans.But when she meets Clyde, Ben, Kylo, Flip and Matt for the first time, she gets a lot more than she bargained for...Or, a Reverse Harem Vampire Soulmate AU, in which Rey's blood brings all the vamps to the yard.
Relationships: Clyde Logan/Rey (Star Wars), Matt the Radar Technician & Rey (Star Wars), Matt the Radar Technician/Kylo Ren/Rey/Ben Solo, Rey (Star Wars)/Flip Zimmerman, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, Rey/Kylo/Ben/Clyde/Flip/Matt
Comments: 32
Kudos: 79
Collections: Anniversary Fic Exchange 2020





	Deligati Sanguis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zrofyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zrofyre/gifts).



> Hey Zrofyre!  
>  I hope you enjoy your fic in all of its Reverse Harem/Corporate Espionage glory! It's been a blast to write. 
> 
> Big thanks to my anonymous betas, who have worked tirelessly on this with me! You guys are the bomb.com.  
>  Another big thanks to the anonymous person who made this gorgeous moodboard! It is beautiful, and the more I look at it, the more I love it!

“Y’sure you can handle all of us at once, love? You seem a little… _overwhelmed._ ” 

Ben’s voice vibrates against Rey’s skin before he lathes his tongue over her nipple, drawing gentle circles around the other with the pad of his finger.

As far as she was concerned, _‘overwhelmed’_ was the understatement of the goddamn century.

Clyde’s wide palms span her waist, his thumb drawing gentle, soothing lines on one side, while the cold metal of his prosthetic bites into her skin on the other. “You’re doin’ so well, darlin’. So brave to take all of us at once like this.”

Rey is currently seated between the man’s legs, the soft cotton of his shirt rubbing against the bare skin of her back.

“O-overwhelmed doesn’t…doesn’t even”—she squeaks when Matt places a gentle kiss at her hip—“ _ah_ , cover it.” Rey breathes heavily, her skin singing sweet melodies as her soulmate marks tingle with heat, glowing golden under the attention of her mates.

All five of them work in tandem as they touch, kiss, and lick her skin; all in their own different ways—from soft, hesitant and tender, to rough, passionate and demanding. Despite their glaring differences, she loves them all, craves their touches like it’s her life blood.

The irony of that statement isn’t lost on her.

“…Do we need to slow down?” Kylo growls against the shell of her ear, sending warmth to pool between her legs.

“ _Don’t you dare,_ ” she says between clenched teeth. “I need you. _All_ of you.” 

Rey gasps sharply, moaning into the air when she feels the familiar graze of fangs against her inner thigh, so tantalizingly close to piercing the skin there, yet still not quite enough.

With the realization that he might bite, her heartbeat races, blood pounding in her ears when she feels Flip's reverberating moan against her leg, his fangs just barely nicking the delicate skin. 

She lets out a sharp gasp at the sensation, and as a tense silence falls over the room, she becomes acutely aware of the five sets of dark eyes locked on her; wanting, needy, and _hungry._

A thought occurs to her then, one that sends heat twisting and curling in her belly. They can smell her. They can hear her wildly beating heart pumping the blood through her veins. 

And they want it. They’re _starving_ for it, for her—just as she's starving for them.

Rey exhales shakily when Kylo presses his open mouth against her neck. The sound of her trembling breath causes his lips to still ominously over her pulse point, her skin prickling when his breath ghosts over the junction between her neck and shoulder. 

“ _Shit,_ ” Ben grinds out, his hand tightening around Rey’s breast, slowly rolling her pert nipple between his fingers.

Despite knowing that she needs to stay still, needs to let them fight off their instincts, Rey wants to feel them, touch them, taste them—every cell in her body screams for it, demands it—and before her brain can even process what she's doing, Rey slowly reaches one hand towards Matt, whose eyes are wide, wanting, and black with need.

His eyes follow her every move, and as she inches closer to him, his hand grips her hip with more force, sharp nails biting into soft skin; so different from his usual gentle touches.

Just as she’s about to thread her fingers through his soft, blond curls, her wrists are brought over her head, held captive by one very large hand.

“ _Do. Not. Move,_ ” Clyde warns, leaning down to press his mouth and nose into the crown of her head, making it a point not to breathe her in. “One, even two of us is fine—but if we all bite, you’ll be in a heap o’ trouble.”

“Got it. No moving,” she breathes, the sound barely carrying through the tension-filled air.

* * *

_Two Months Earlier_

Now, if you told Rey that she’d someday be mated to five different men—all vampires from a very powerful pureblood family, at that—she’d tell you to get your head checked.

Hell, she would have sent you away if you told her she would have a mate _at all_. 

Rey Palpatine, first of all, is a human—which is a rare thing in a society where monsters reign supreme. One could encounter all sorts of species, vampire to fey, and everything in between, all in a simple walk to the grocery store.

And in a world inhabited by creatures that could crush humanity to a pulp, that’s exactly what tends to happen. Humans are easy targets; slow, frail, and usually delicious. Thus, the rate for interspecies homicide is _very_ high, and the human population is incredibly low. 

In an effort to counter this, the Peace Council—which consists of high ranking members of each species—set a program in place, one that allows trustworthy members of stronger species to adopt humans into their families, raise them as their own, and offer them protection. 

This process is exactly how her parents, two human soulmates, became children to Sheev Palpatine. Which, by all intents and purposes, made her his granddaughter—something she wishes she didn’t have the displeasure of being. 

Sheev is an elder vampire, a very strong and respected member of society, and the owner of one of the largest mate-matching companies in the world. 

PalpLabs.

Known for its ground-breaking matching algorithm, and special focus on interspecies soulmates, the company is widely renowned, though not without its scandals. 

Because of that, Rey’s grandpa is infamous, highly regarded, and stupid rich. Unfortunately, he was also a complete asshole, a fact that Rey found herself privy to every day of her life. 

But as far as everyone else was concerned—much to Rey’s chagrin—Sheev Palpatine was a gift to the whole damn world. An innovator. A genius. Truly a vamp for the wellbeing of all creaturekind. 

Rey knew better, though.

The click of the bedroom door opening snaps Rey out of her reverie, and much to her annoyance, Sheev’s right hand man, Armitage Hux, barges into her room, loud and obnoxious as usual, his nine orange kyuubi tails swishing dramatically through the air behind him. 

She holds back an eye roll. _What a drama queen._

“What do you want this time?” she asks, bored, and not at all interested in what he has to say. If she had to guess, she’d say her grandfather wanted another word with her, either about sending her for more medical testing, or trying to convince her, _yet again_ , to join the ranks of the undead. 

She wouldn’t lie, the offer to become a vampire had been tempting. But she couldn’t help but think that his motives were less than pure, and truthfully, she didn’t think she could stomach the change in diet. She loved food _far_ too much.

The kyuubi spirit bristles at her tone, huffing loudly before marching up to her, crossing his arms over his chest, his black-tipped ears flicking in annoyance. 

“Not that you care, but Sheev requests your presence. More testing to be done—they found something strange in your last lung biopsy,” he says in a clipped tone. 

Rey opens her mouth to reply, but he turns on his heel with a dramatic flourish of his tails—effectively cutting her off—and marches right back out of the room. 

Rey huffs. _What an insufferable arsewipe._

“Glad to see the stick hasn’t been removed from the quiet caverns of your arse!” she calls, smirking when a narrow blast of fire singes her door frame, followed by Hux peeking back into the room to glare at her with his teeth bared.

“ _Now,_ you cretin,” he hisses, before disappearing into a puff of smoke—a trick he seldom uses, in fear of setting off the fire alarms again. Her grandpa hadn’t been too happy about that when it happened last time.

Rey sighs loudly, rising from the seat of her drawing table, where she’d been working on her latest piece. It was all shadows and copious amounts of black charcoal; a depiction of a dark, empty room with a small, square window that allowed ominous smoke to sweep and curl into the room. Thick. Suffocating. All-consuming.

She’d titled it: _‘Home’_.

Wiping her hands on her art smock, she unties it from her neck, wincing at the painful twinge that pulses across her skin from the purple bruise at the base of her skull. _That_ was thanks to last week’s test, which had required fluid from the junction of her skull and her spine.

Rey was sick and tired of all these damn tests. They’d been constant from the time she’d turned seven years old. Or, more accurately, since her parents had died from sudden, acute organ failure. 

She remembers the horrible day all too clearly as she leaves the all-white walls of her room behind, stepping into the immaculate, metallic halls of the PalpLabs main branch. Breathing in the smell of antiseptic, she wrinkles her nose, the smell bringing back memories she’d rather leave behind.

Rey remembers feeling like she’d lost a part of herself, like something in her would now be empty, forever, never to be full again as her grandpa’s old, wrinkled hand gently patted empty consolations on her shoulder.

She frowns as she takes her time walking through the halls, the familiar twinge of longing for her warm, loving parents turning her chest into a deep, empty chasm.

She remembers how he’d gone on and on about how frail humans could be, how her parent’s deaths were really inevitable—but, oh, how unfortunate it was that his children had expired at such a young age, and most importantly, how he’d make sure she didn’t.

Seven-year-old Rey didn’t know what that meant at the time, and she wished she’d never had to find out. She knows that Sheev is just taking precautions, unable to bear the thought of losing his only human grandchild. _‘His legacy’_ , he calls her. 

But honestly, she just can’t take it anymore. The seclusion, the poking, the prodding, the surgeries, the biopsies, the constant, unending pain. It is hell. Absolute hell. She looks and feels like a goddamned pincushion, a science experiment gone wrong—her body littered with more scars than she has freckles. She’d often worried as a girl that her soulmate would hate them, her scars. She smiles bitterly at the thought.

As it turns out, that wouldn’t be something she’d have to worry about. Because Rey, at twenty-three years old, does not have a soulmate mark, and according to the research Sheev had commissioned on the fact, she never would.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her black scrubs—standard issue uniform for everyone of little importance at PalpLabs—the feelings of worthlessness, of inadequacy rear their ugly faces in her mind, sending a numbing chill to race up her spine before it settles heavy at the base of her neck. 

Rey remembers dreaming of the day she’d be free of this place, free of her grandfather, and sent into the loving, tender arms of the person she was meant to spend her life with; the person that was her match in every way. Her soulmate.

How desperately she’d wanted to see the darkened mark, signifying where her soulmate’s touch would meet her skin for the first time. Would it be somewhere obvious, like her hand? Or somewhere more unexpected? 

What a shame that Rey would never find out.

She’d been crushed when her seventeenth birthday had come and gone, with nary a mark to be found. No handprints, fingerprints, nothing. Her skin remained unblemished, save for the scars she’d never wanted there in the first place, and she hated it. 

“A celebratory thing, to be broken, child,” her grandpa had said, smiling that too-friendly grin of his. “A soulmate would just hinder your duties as future CEO of this company, you know. You’re better off without, better off alone.” 

She’d cried herself to sleep that night, all hope of escape, of a better life than this dashed out the window. If she’d been able to find a soulmate, the laws stated that they could not be separated. He would’ve had to let her go. 

But she would never have one. She was defective.

Rey clenches her fist, her nails biting into the palm of her hand as she nears her grandpa’s office. But she stills, slowing her pace as Hux’s tails peek out the doorway.

“Well, is it done?” Sheev’s voice is acidic, all bite and burn, never any real, genuine warmth. 

“It—yes. We’ll have the formula for the serum prototype in two months’ time.” The kyuubi’s tails flick nervously, and Rey frowns at the tone of his voice. 

Hux almost sounds hesitant when he utters the words, which is odd for him. Very odd. She honestly didn’t think she’d ever seen him flustered, and the sight has her inching closer, straining her ears to hear their discussion.

“What troubles you, Armitage?” Sheev asks, his tone laced with a sticky, too-sweet edge that makes Rey tense, her breath frozen and sharp in her lungs. She knows that tone all too well, and things never end well when he uses it.

 _Don’t say anything you idiot fox!_ she thinks. Don’t get her wrong, she doesn’t like the man, not one bit—but no one deserves Sheev Palpatine’s wrath. No one.

Hux clears his throat. “W-well, I’m just concerned that this serum might be a little extreme—I fear we will not get a positive reaction from the public if it comes to light that we’re working on a, _uh_ …” The kyuubi’s feet shuffle back just a touch, his tails twitching and flicking through the air.

“A _what_ , Armitage?” Sheev spits, and Rey takes a couple steps back herself.

“A serum that…f-forces mating,” he fumbles out, and Rey’s heart plummets into the pit of her stomach as his words hit her like a bag of bricks.

“Now, now,” her grandpa tuts. “ _Force_ is such an abrasive word. It’s more like a...gentle biological push, if you will.”

Her hands ball into tight fists, and she doesn’t think she’s ever hated her grandfather more than in this moment. She knew he’d had some shady business deals in the past—but this? Working on a serum that would _force_ someone into a soulmate bond? Rey shakes her head in disbelief.

She feels sick to her stomach just thinking about the implications of such a thing. What sort of abhorrent people would even want something so...so utterly _vile?_ Unpleasant dread twists and writhes in her gut, and she decides that she doesn’t want to think about it anymore.

“Of course. A…gentle biological push. You’re right, that’s a much better way to phrase it.” Hux makes himself sound like he’s on board with her grandpa’s plans, but she can tell by the way his ears twitch and flatten against his head that he is decidedly _not._

The kyuubi begins to exit the office, and Rey quickly shuffles back around the corner as Sheev walks out into the hall with his right hand man.

“That’s more like it. Now get back to work, I’m due for a visit from my beloved granddaughter,” he pauses, and she can _hear_ the twisted smile in his next words. “Ah, she’s close! I can smell her blood from here.” 

Bile rises in her throat. She doesn’t like this; not one bit.

Rey takes a deep breath to steady her nerves before shoving her still tightened fists back into her pockets. She schools her face into her usual bored mask—always carefully devoid of any emotion—and walks towards him, her empty eyes meeting his scheming ones. 

“…Grandpa.” She nods her head in a subtle greeting.

“Come, Rey.” Sheev gestures into his office. “Have a seat, we’ve much to discuss.”

Walking past him into the dark space, she keeps her breathing slow and even, trying very hard not to shrink in on herself when she sits in the black leather chair opposite his desk. Sheev follows, taking his seat across from her before leaning forward to rest his forearms on the mahogany surface.

“First item on the agenda; your lung biopsy results came in, and they found something odd, so they’re going to need a repeat test.” 

Rey tries her best to keep her cool, but the idea of having someone take another chunk of her lung out…it does not bode well, and she represses a shudder. It had hurt to breathe for weeks, and she’d only recently recovered from it. Now he wanted her to do it again?

_Fuck that._

Her grandpa leans further forward, a badly hidden smirk curling the corner of his lips, and in that moment, Rey wants to punch him right in his too-confident, wrinkly-ass face.

 _He’s amused by the prospect of my pain._ Rey clenches her teeth, trying desperately to keep her blank face in check.

“These tests are hard on you, I know, but we need to make sure you don’t meet the same fate your parents did. _Surely_ you can understand why an old vampire like myself would want to keep his only living descendants alive?”

Rey frowns at the inflection of his voice. She _knows_ he’s manipulating her, but his tone, his fake concern, his sick pleasure in this whole situation…it’s getting to her, because even though she knows better, some small part of her still _wants_ to believe him.

And he’s done nothing to deserve that privilege.

“Yes, Grandpa, I know. But the lung biopsy…it hurt. A lot.” Rey’s voice shakes ever so slightly when she utters the words, the memory of the surgeons and nurses towering darkly over her squeezing the air from her lungs. Feeling her heart rate speed up, she silently curses at herself when Sheev’s old eyes narrow in response.

“You know, I could make all the tests go away— _forever._ All you’d have to do is become like me, a vampire. Surely that wouldn’t be as bad as the torture you’ve had to endure all these years?” His voice is smooth, almost inviting as he tempts her with an end to her pain. 

But truthfully, Rey wants nothing to do with it. It’s no secret that her grandpa sees humans as lesser beings than his own species. He thinks that because she’s a human, she is incapable of taking the helm of the company like he wants her to.

Rey’s often wondered if all these medical procedures were just manipulation tactics to make her suffer, make her want a life of blood and immortality. She certainly wouldn’t put it past him.

She opens her mouth to refuse his request for the umpteenth time, but closes it just as quickly, a whisper of a thought crossing her mind. A deliciously sneaky, underhanded thought, at that. 

Rey sighs, defeated, letting her features drop into a broken slump before she looks up to Sheev with pleading eyes. “Would being a vampire really fix me?” she croaks out, wrapping her arms securely around herself. “I…I don’t know if I can take the pain anymore.”

If we wanted to play the manipulation game, so would she. 

Sheev doesn’t hide the grin that overtakes his features, and he quickly rises from his seat, coming to stand behind Rey to set a cold hand atop her head. She resists a shudder, her eyes fixed statically on the desk in front of her.

Despite wanting to rip herself away from his looming stance, his false-comfort, Rey keeps her emotional mask in place, playing the girl at the end of her wits, desperate for relief from the unyielding torture she’s been put through—and her grandpa is eating it up. 

“Of course it would, my dear,” he soothes, his long, pointed nails dragging lightly over her scalp. “Just say the word, and you’ll never have to go through another test ever again.”

Rey grits her teeth, the sensation of the nails against her head sending uncomfortable shivers across her skin, and dread to eat at her gut. She hates it, hates him.

“Would…would you give me some time to think about it? Maybe show me a glimpse of what running the company would be like? That might make it easier to decide,” she says, turning in her chair to look up at Sheev. A predatory grin stretches the pale skin of his face, revealing the pointed fangs in his top row of teeth.

She swallows, her eyes fixed on his darkening expression—more urgently, the black that starts filling his eyes—and for a minute, she thinks he might just change her right here. But thankfully, he retracts his hand, and walks over to the door.

“Of course. I’ll go get Armitage—he can show you how we run things at a superficial level.” He seems to change his mind about leaving though, and turns to face her, and the dark glint to his airy blue eyes makes Rey’s stomach turn. “But, it’ll be up to you to prove that you have what it takes to earn the privilege of working by my side,” Sheev steps closer to her then, too close for her comfort, and Rey concentrates on keeping her breathing steady, calm. “You need to be cutthroat, confident, and willing to go to whatever means necessary for the success of PalpLabs.”

He stops, dragging a sharp nail across the edge of her jaw, with just enough pressure that the skin raises, but not quite enough to break it. “Do you think you can handle that? A soft, feeble creature like yourself?”

Rey knows what he wants to hear, knows that this is him trying to intimidate her, to see if she’s really serious about this, or just looking for a way out of her pain. 

Gathering her resolve, she pushes her chin up against his nail, enough for it to break through the frail skin. She doesn’t wince at the sensation—she’s been through much worse than this, after all—instead, she simply stays there, watching as her grandpa’s eyes turn dark. 

“I can, _feeble creature_ or not,” she states, her tone cold, confident in a way she doesn’t think she’s ever heard herself speak.

Sheev lets out a delighted laugh as he pulls his hand away—but not before dragging it a little, lengthening the scratch, sending blood beading to the surface of her skin. Rey’s face remains impassive as he steps back, brandishing a handkerchief from his pocket to dab away the blood on his finger, before offering it to her, to clean off her face.

“I have no doubt you will be, in time,” he says, and she knows it isn’t meant to be a compliment. He expects it from her, and if she disappoints him again, she won’t come out unscathed.

Sheev wrinkles his nose in disgust. “You’re lucky your blood smells like nothing short of a rotting cesspool, my dear. That was a very rash thing you just did, and I warn you never to do it again, lest you be ready to face the consequences,” he snarls, before turning away from her, clasping his hands behind his back.

Rey stands, perfectly straight, face blank, emotions shoved into the background of her mind. If she has to act the part of a cold-blooded bitch for her plan to be a success, then so be it.

Anything to be free from this hellhole.

“Understood,” she says, following her grandpa out the door. He turns his head, smiling wickedly when she follows after him into the hall.

“Good. Now, wait in your room while I fetch Armitage, would you?” He flicks out a hand, shooing her away like she’s no more to him than a speck of dust, and fury begins to rise in her chest at the thought of it—but she clamps it down.

“Yes, Grandpa.” She turns her back to him, a new fierceness sharpening her every step as she walks through the too-clean, too-perfect halls. Rey’s always had a feeling that behind PalpLabs’ happily-ever-after façade, there was something dark, something insidious. And after hearing about the serum, she’s sure of it.

Walking into her room, she closes the door—locking it, for good measure—and quickly sits at her desk, whipping open her laptop. She stills for a minute, reveling in the way her heart beats in her chest, how the adrenaline courses like electricity through her veins.

Rey knows this isn’t smart. She knows that doing this could land her in a heap of trouble that, quite frankly, she isn’t ready to deal with. But if she’s honest with herself, the thought of royally screwing over her asshole grandpa has never made her feel so alive.

Double clicking on the little icon, she makes sure she’s in a protected browser before searching for the top mate-matching companies in the world.

She scrolls down past all the ads, sneering when she sees PalpLabs listed at number one, followed closely by the second highest rated company: Organa Solo Industries.

Rey grins before clicking on the link to their website. She scrolls past the flowery opening, down to the link that leads to the company’s contact information. She hovers her cursor over the underlined words, heart pounding in her ears as she clicks on it.

Then, she hears a knock at the door, and she almost throws her mouse across the room.

“Why is this locked?” Hux mutters from outside the room, jiggling the handle.

Rey jumps from her seat, quickly jotting the company’s contact information down on a Post-it note before she clicks out of her browser, shoving the little paper inside her pillowcase, and slamming the laptop shut.

Standing, she quickly smooths her outfit, and slides her ice queen mask back into place. Showtime.

“It’s locked because I didn’t want anyone to come in, genius,” she says icily, walking to the door, and yanking it open, only to meet the yellow eyes of one very annoyed Hux.

The kyuubi huffs, his tails flicking out in annoyance. “I can’t believe I’m reduced to this—a glorified _babysitter,_ ” he sputters out, glaring daggers at Rey. “I have a PhD, you know.”

“In what, how to be an insufferable twat?” She raises an eyebrow at him before walking toward the elevators, her head held high and shoulders pushed back. Every inch the heartless granddaughter Sheev wants her to be.

Hux scoffs loudly, and with an annoyed flick of his wrist and a twitch of his orange ears, he steps back out of the room to follow Rey. 

* * *

_Two Months Later_

Rey looks at herself in the mirror, hands gripping her dresser as she stares herself down.

_Today’s the day._

Picking up a small spray bottle, she spritzes herself with the scent blocker she’d bribed one of the lab techs in the experimental department—Kaydel Connix—to create for her, before slipping it in her handbag.

Coincidentally, the lightning nymph had also been the one to direct Rey to Ms. Holdo, a very accomplished private investigator.

Kaydel’s only condition for her expertise had been a secure job in her field once Rey had accomplished what she set out to do, and when Rey feigned innocence on the subject, Kaydel had just shaken her head, and told Rey she was on her side; Sheev needed to be stopped.

Seeing as Nymphs, by nature, couldn’t lie, Rey believed her.

Turning from her reflection, she pulls on her fitted black blazer, smoothing out the lapels before turning to face herself in the mirror. She smiles.

She’s fierce in her jet black pantsuit, her hair slicked back in a tight chignon—a style that adds a sharpness to her features that she doesn't get if she wears it down. Satisfied with her intimidating appearance, she grabs her bag and heads out of her room, locking the door behind her. 

Her mind reels as she strides silently down the hall, and when she finally gets to the elevators, she presses the button with a smooth familiarity that she didn't have two months ago. 

Truthfully, she’d played her part perfectly. All cold, no warmth, and relentless in her ambition…just like her grandfather always wanted her to be. 

The doors slide open, and she silently steps inside, promptly punching in the six-digit code that would take her to the experimental labs—a place no one except Sheev, Hux, and a few trusted scientists and guards were allowed. She smirks as the doors slide shut. 

And now, thanks to her little act, she had a spot on the entry list.

The elevator goes down, down, down, to the very basement of PalpLabs, and when the doors open, she glides into the near-empty halls like she owns them, not even bothering to acknowledge the few workers she passes on her way.

She walks up to Sheev’s office door, and quickly reaches into her purse to grab a set of sleek leather gloves, slipping them on her hands before she punches in the code to enter her grandpa’s office. Once she’s securely inside, she closes the door, and rushes over to the computer.

Honestly, she hadn’t expected her grandpa to give her the necessary security codes and passwords right off the hop like he had. In fact, it almost seemed too easy. But then, what reason had she given him to doubt her? Her performance had been flawless. 

She sits down at the computer, quickly plugging in the thumb drive, and diving into the computer files. She scrolls through the various files, eyes scanning all the folder titles until her eyes lock onto the one she’s been looking for. 

PalpLabs newest project: _Soul Supremacy._

It was a new program—the first of its kind, no less—that would allow all species to be able to be matched with their soulmates via specific DNA testing, rather than just a questionnaire, and dumb luck. It was ground-breaking, really, and PalpLabs would easily revolutionize the mate-matching industry with it.

A shame they were missing the final few pieces they needed to complete the project—resulting in a glitch that wouldn’t allow for cross-species soulmates to find each other, which, for a company that prided itself on bringing interspecies mates together, was a big no-no.

Rey lets a satisfied smirk curl her lips. _Such_ a shame.

After transferring the _Soul Supremacy_ files to her flash drive, she deletes the originals, and the back-ups, and the back-up of the backups.

And after that, she finds her cursor hovering over her second file set that needs taken care of. The serum. _A Second Chance,_ they’d called it, painting the prettiest marketing picture they could to cover up its true, less than savoury purpose. 

Rey had to hand it to Sheev, marketing the serum towards those who’d lost their mates and were in search of new ones was a stroke of manipulative genius. It’d also made her stomach curl.

“Just think—people like you, _defective_ , with no hope of finding their other half—they could have that, now,” her grandfather had said, like it was the most natural solution to being without a soulmate mark.

_Oh yeah—just force someone to be with you, that’ll solve everything._

Rey feels her face twist with a sneer as she goes to delete these files as well—but something in her hesitates, and she finds herself transferring those files onto her flash drive with the others before ridding her grandpa’s computer of the horrendous plans.

A slow, weighty blanket of reality settles over her when she realizes that if she takes the digital plans, she’ll need the physical prototype, too. Something she hadn’t planned for, but she knew in her heart she needed to do.

After deleting all evidence that she’d been in the system, she logs out, and disconnects the flash drive before dropping it into her purse.

Rey breathes deeply to calm her pounding heart, slowly rising from her chair as she reminds herself who she is, and who she needs to be for this to work.

Cold. Calculating. Confident.

Exhaling the rest of her doubts into the air, she strides out of Sheev’s office, and straight towards the lab, where the prototype serum lies in wait.

Her eyes narrow when she approaches the two werewolf guards that stand in front of the smooth, opaque white doors.

“Uh, afternoon, Ms. Palpatine,” one says, nodding his head.

Rey doesn’t even acknowledge his presence. “Doors,” she demands, inspecting her nails as she waits for the guards to do her bidding.

Her eyes shift to the second guard, narrowing when she catches him fidgeting with his keys.

“Do I look like a woman who likes to be kept waiting?” Rey clips out, her eyes fill with a cold fire as she stares down the werewolf, his grey ears flicking back nervously. Good. He _should_ be nervous. 

“N-no, Miss. But Sir Palpatine, he said—”

Rey cuts him off by baring her teeth, and taking a threatening step towards him. “And what, pray tell, do you think will happen to you when I tell him I couldn’t get the item he requested because his _guard dogs_ wouldn’t open the door?”

She lets out a low growl, one that she’d learned and perfected over the last few months—deep, guttural, and oozing authority. 

When the wolves’ ears flatten completely against their heads, and they bare their necks in submission, she has to fight the urge to grin. 

“The door. _Now,_ ” she says, a cutting tone to her voice that she hadn’t quite expected to come out. It has the desired effect though, and the second guard fumbles with his keys before unlocking her door, letting her saunter inside.

“Fuck, she might be worse than the old man,” the first guard says under his breath, and Rey feels a little part of herself shrivel at the thought.

_Only for a little while longer. You only have to wear the mask for a little while longer._

But she can’t help but worry that the ‘mask’ she’s grown so used to wearing might be becoming permanently attached to her face. And she doesn’t know how to fix that.

Gritting her teeth, she pulls the fridge door open, thumbing through the different vials until she comes across one filled with a thick, deep red liquid in a glass vial with a screw-top lid, labeled in black marker.

‘ _A Second Chance: Compulsion Serum’_

Rey snatches it from its home on the cold shelf, securing it in a Ziploc bag before tucking it into a smaller compartment of her bag. After closing the door, she strides out the doors, not even sparing a backwards glance at the guards she leaves in her wake.

Rey takes the elevator back up to the main level, her heart pounding in her chest as she walks confidently towards the front entrance. She smoothly grabs her car keys—well, _Kaydel’s_ car keys, actually—and her black sunglasses from the small bag.

She nods to the creatures guarding the door, before waltzing through, and making a bee-line for Kaydel’s silver Mercedes.

Honestly, pretending you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be— _even when you’re really, really not_ —is an ingenious mind trick.

She comes up to the sleek vehicle, nervousness swirling in the pit of her belly. 

Did she know how to drive this thing? Barely. But you bet your ass she knew where she was headed. She’d researched that map route for so long, she’s pretty sure it was imprinted in her mind.

Simultaneously pressing the brake and the button to start the engine, the engine rumbles to life, and for the first time in a long time, a sliver of a smile breaks across her lips. She likes the vibration against her skin, the feel of the wheel in her hands, the sun peeking through the windows to touch her skin. She loves it, revels in it.

And she should. After all, it’s her first taste of freedom in sixteen years.

* * *

The drive goes just about as well as Rey expected.

She’d nearly driven into a few things in her excitement, gotten honked at by people she’d gotten a bit too close to—but overall, she counts her first driving experience as a win.

And now, standing in front of the massive building that is Organa Solo Industries, she vaguely feels like she might throw up, despite her success.

Her plan had gone all too perfectly.

After a little digging by the private investigator Kaydel had hooked her up with, she’d found out that—to her absolute delight—OS Industries was working on a project that was jarringly similar to _Soul Supremacy._

The icing on the cake was that they seemingly had the puzzle pieces that her grandpa did not, meaning they’d be able to finish the project, and release it to the public before PalpLabs. Rey would literally be handing them success and infamy on a platter, while simultaneously throwing her grandpa under several busses.

Plus, if anything, working with the five co-owners of the company would be a treat for her eyes; all of them tall, handsome, and absolutely drool-worthy.

Coming from one of the oldest vampire families next to the Palpatines, the Organa-Solos were equally as infamous—but for a completely different set of reasons than her grandpa was.

Good reasons, noble ones.

It would truly be a win-win situation.

As she takes a step towards the building, Rey’s heart begins pounding in her chest, the gravity of what she’s about to do weighing heavily on her mind, and the sensation sends anxiety spiralling through her, squeezing the breath out of her lungs.

She stands there for several seconds, focusing on breathing deeply, exhaling the doubt, the panic, the insecurity. 

Rey shakes her head, clutching at her purse. She needs to do this. She knows that. Besides, she’d already called their office to let them know she was coming. So really, she has no excuse. 

_Put on your big girl panties, and get it done._

So, that’s exactly what she does. She schools her features, her cool mask of indifference securely in place.

And when she saunters up to the doors, pushing them open in one solid gesture, she feels like this is the first step on a new path. One where she’s no longer a little pawn under her grandpa’s thumb, one where she’ll have a say in her own life for once.

Little did she know, the people waiting on the other side of that door would change her life forever.


End file.
